The present invention relates to a doll which walks or stamps its feet so as to shuffle along, without lifting its feet from the floor. In the present specification, a plane on which the doll walks is generically called a floor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a walking doll which is capable of shuffling its feet or making a turn in an arbitrary direction as it walks.
A walking doll of the prior art alternately lifts its feet from the floor and repeatedly stands on one foot as it walks. For this purpose, it is necessary to make each foot of large size in such a way that the doll can stand on one foot. The prior art doll is therefore apt to loose its balance and fall down as the walking speed is increased. Its movement is also linear and devoid of interest.
The inventor of the present application has proposed a doll which can alternately move its feet back and forth in a shuffling motion, without lifting its feet from the floor as it rapidly walks. See Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Sho 63-86375 and Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 1-256991. As to this doll, which is shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, two feet 102, 103, each having the same length are connected to a body 101 in such a manner that the feet can freely oscillate back and forth on a shaft 104 at the center of the oscillation. The feet 102 and 103 and the shaft 104 are connected by means of a crank 106 and a slotted hole 107 of a spring-driven gear unit 105. A pin 108 of the crank 106 which rotates by the force of the spring is fitted into the slotted hole 107, thus compelling the feet 102 and 103 to alternately oscillate back and forth. Accordingly, the doll does not walk by completely lifting soles 102a and 103a from the floor 109, but rather, both feet 102 and 103 alternately move back and forth, like shuffling, with the soles 102a and 103a being lightly brought into contact with the floor 109 as the doll walks. In the case of this doll, since the direction of progress varies due to an insignificant change in the frictional resistance between feet 102, 103 and the floor 109, the direction of walking becomes unstable, whereby the doll moves irregularly.
It may, however, be necessary to impart a direction to the movement of the doll, depending on the situation. As a countermeasure, co-axial rotary shafts 111 each piercing through the side face of the body 101 and wings 110 each of which can rotate backward and forward around the single axis rotary shaft 111 are fixed to the body 101, thereby shifting the center of gravity of the whole doll forward or backward by the rotation of the wings 110. With such a configuration, the doll can shuffle its feet forward or backward as it walks. For example, when the wings 110 are rotated forward to shift the center of gravity of the doll forward, the doll shuffles its feet forward in the forward-bent posture. Further, when the wings 110 are rotated backward to shift the center of gravity of the doll backward, the doll shuffles its feet backward in the backward-bent posture like stepping back.
With such an arrangement, the movement direction of the doll is restricted to three types, i.e., forward movement, backward movement and a halting of its progress while it marches in place. The movement of the doll is thus uninteresting.